Apparatus for embossing name-plates, &amp;c.



PATENTED APR. 2, 1907.

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"T. l-AvvKINS.. APPARATUS POR EMBOSSANG NAME PLATLLS-F Aw.

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APPLICATION FILED NV. 13. 1902.

No. 848,824. l PATENIED APR. 2, 1907.

T. HAWKINS.

APPARATUS FOR BMBOSSING NAME PLATES, 61:0.

' APPLIGATION FILED Nov. 13, 1902.

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No; 848,824, PAT-ENTED APR. 2, 1907 T. lHAWKINS. APPARATUS PUR EMBQSSINGNAME PLATES, am. APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 13, 1902.

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rulzrNckms PErERs ca., wAsHImJ-rorv, nA 4 -A THOMAS HAWKINS, OF LONDON,ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR ENIBOSSING NAME-PLATES, 600.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 2, 1907.

Application tiled November 13, 1902. Serial No. 131,147.

To al?, whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS I-IAwKiNs, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at 4() Marchmont street, Russell Square, London,England, have invented certain Improvements in Apparatus for Embossing Name-Plates, &c., of which the fol lowing is a specification.

My invention relates, first, to apparatus for embossing and producinglabels, nameplates, or other embossed surfaces for various pulposes--forexample, metal plates for attachment to doors, cc., for hats or hatpegs,&c., or for bags, dog-collars, or almost any other obj ect, or formounting on a holder as a hand-stamp, or for the manufacture of dies andcounter-dies for embossing addresses, &c., upon paper, or for theprinting of surfaces in Braile type for blind readers, or forperforating for any ornamental or useful purpose, and many otherobjects.

In one form of my invention metal or other plates or labels can beembossed with any desired name or lettering, such plates being eitheralready cut to the desired shape and size or produced from a strip orsheet and having holes by which they can be secured upon doors, drawers,or in any desired place.

An essential feature of my invention consists in providing dies whichare adapted to be held at one end and to emboss at the other end. rIheapparatus I may employ for embossing purposes may include a pair ofsuperimposed disks fixed together and between which are held radialtongues carrying the dies, or said dies may bear upon their inner andadjacent surfaces dies and counter-dies of alphabetical letters,numerals, or any other denomination, each disk bearing one set of saiddies arranged in series on radial tongues near to and concentric withits outer edge.

In a modification of the apparatus I may provide two parallel barsadapted to reciprocate longitudinally upon a base-plate,- one carryingthe series of dies, which may be of the form described above, and theother provided with clips or the like for holding the material to beoperated upon. l

I may also make very cheaply special dies for embossing the characters.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention,Figure 11s a plan of the embosser, showing a plate ready to be operatedupon. Fig. 2- is a section on vline A B of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a side viewof a pair of radial tongues supplied with dies adapted to emboss a givencharacter. Figs. 3a and 3b are sections on EF of Fig. 3 looking down andup, respectively. Fig. 4 shows a plan of a die having a parallel-edgedshank adapted for an arrangement of embossingtongue side by side in astraight line. Fig. 4a shows a similar plan, in which the shank has twotapered edges adapted for an ar rangement such as illustrated in Fig. 1.Fig. 5 is a plan of a modified form of embosser, showing a plate readyto be operated upon. Fig. 6 shows in perspective kan arrangement forholding a curved plate to be embossed. Fig. 7 is a section on line C Dof Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is a cross-section of the die-l holding strip of theembosser shown in Figs. 5 and 7 in a slightly-modified form.

Similar parts are designated by similar numerals throughout thedrawings.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, showing the form ofembosser which consists, essentially, of two superimposed disks, 1 is abasepiece, which may be of wood. 2` is a stationary pivot having ashoulder 3,' which bears upon a washer 4, the whole being secured to thebase-piece by nut 5. 6 `and 7 are lower and upper disks, respectively,having a spacing-washer 8 between them, the two disks and the washerbeing held together by screws 9 and adapted to revolve about the pivot2. The lower disk has a raised broad ring and is larger than the upperdisk. Radial channels are milled out or formed in said ring for thepurpose of receiving the shank ends of the dies. One form of such die'sis shown in Figs. 3, 3a, and 3b, wherein 11 and 12 are male and femaledies, respectively, and are attached to a springsteel staple-shapedpiece 13, which has a distance-block 14 held in place by a rivet 15. Theside 15L is preferably shaped as shown for the urpose of keeping thedies normally apart, a though this could be effected by substituting aspring or a block of resilient material for the block 14. Said shankends are inserted in the radial channel and fit tightly thereinsidewise, but are preferably allowed a little play vertically. The diesare then secured in place by set-screws 16. I/Vhile the mannerl ofholding the dies is a convenient one, I may secure dies which arecapable of embossing at their free ends in other ways.

IOO

For instance,l may use only one disk and secure such dies to the edge ofsame in any suitable manner. Such dies may be either of the solid,laminated, or back-up form. 17 is a plate secured to the base I andhaving sockets 18, within which slides the bar 19. Said bar has mountedthereon sockets 2O 20, which are provided with clips 21 21, said socketsbeing held to the bar 19 by thumbscrews 22 22. rl`he plate to beembossed or otherwise operated upon is shown at 23 and is held in placeby the thumb-screws 24 24. A short arm 25, rigid with the pivot 2, hasfulcrumed thereto at 26 an operating -lever 27, provided with a lug 28.The lever is adapted to be depressed in order that the lug may bear uponthe upper die 12, and so emboss the plate 23, a spring 29 returning thelever to its raised position. The mechansm for spacing the charactersmay consist of notches 30 3() in the edge of the upper disk 7 and aspringactuated pawl 31, fixed at 32 to a pointer 33, (hereinaftermentioned,) secured at 34 to the base 1. Said pawl is adapted to enterthe notches 30, as shown in Fig. 1. The disk 7 may further serve thepurpose of an indicator having the characters corresponding with thoseof the dies and arranged so that the character under the tip of thepointer 33 will correspond with that imder the lug28. The mechanism forspacing the characters on the plate 23 may be the same as that providedror a similar purpose in the form of embosser shown in Fig. 5,hereinafter described. y

In operation the plate 23 (which may be cut to shape and perforatedeither before or after embossing) is secured Within the clips 24 24 andthen carried along between the dies by longitudinally moving the bar 19.The lever 27 is then depressed so as to strike the upper die 12, betweenwhich and the lower die the plate is thus embossed. In order to bringdifferent characters under the lever, the spring-pawl 3l is drawn backand the disks moved round as desired, when the pawl is allowed to returnand enter a fresh notch. For different lengths of plate 23 the positionsof the clips 2O on bar 19 can be altered.

Referring now to the modiiied form of embosser shown in Figs. 5 and 7,the essential di'erence between this and the former type is that thedies are arranged on a longitudinally-sliding piece. The constructionand arrangement of the mechanism for holding the plate 23 to be embossedmay be as before. The plate 17, however, has a rib A36 throughout itslength, on which the die-holding strip 37 slides longitudinally. Thisstrip may be built up as shown in Fig. 8, wherein the piece 37a isplaced between the strips 37 and 37 b the whole being secured togetherby the screws 37 C, or instead of constructing the strip as shown inFig. 8 it may be formed all in one piece, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, inl which case the recesses 38 may be milled out. The die-Shanks are helddown by the set-screws 16. `With the construction of strip shown in Fig.8 l may use the form of die as shown in Fig. 4, which has the block 14extended sidewise sufficiently to separate it from its neighbor, andthis form of die with tapered block, as shown in Fig. 4, may also beused in the embosser illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The form shown in theupper portion of Fig. 4, having a parallel-edged block, is moreparticularly suitable for the type of machine illustrated in Fig. 5. Themechanism for spacing the characters is on the same principle asdescribed with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, and the mechanism for spacingthe characters on the plate 23 may be on the well-known ratchet-andpawlprinciple and may consist in providing a ratchet 40 in the bar 19 and aspring-controlled pawl 9 in engagement with said ratchet and actuated byhandle 41, which is pivoted on a bracket 42, attached to the socket 18.The operation of this form of apparatus is similar to that alreadydescribed with reference to the iirst form.

My apparatus is not confined to embossing only in straight lines, butmay be easily adapted to emboss in curved lines. For the latter purposel may adopt a plan which is illustrated in Fig. 6. In this gure 44 aresockets in the base-piece 1, one of which has screwed therein a stud 46,which has a iiynut 45 for the purpose of holding thereon radial arms 4747, having clips 48 48, as before, for holding the plate 49 to beembossed. To emboss a portion of a circular plate, it is only necessaryto secure it within the clips, as shown, and partially rotate it so aslto bring the parts to be embossed under the lever as before. varyingradii the stud 46 may be changed from one socket 44 to another asdesired. Plates of irregular curves may be embossed in curved lines bymoving them about within the clips 48 and will be easily understood.rl`he mechanism for spacing the characters upon the plate 49 may consistin providing a .notched disk on the stud 46 and a pawl to` suitablyengage such notches as described.

ln all the same cases mentioned each die is operated quite independentlyof and does not affect its neighbor.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. ln apparatussuch as hereinbefore referred to the combination of a die-carrier, a rowof staple-pieces the upper halves of which are resilient iiXed at theirinner ends to said die-carrier, and dies upon the outer ends of saidstaple-pieces.

2. In apparatus such as hereinbefore referred to, the combination of adie-carrier with a row of dies 11 and 12, staple-pieces 13 upon whichsaid dies are fixed the upper For portions of circular plates of IOOhalves of said staple-pieces being resilient and retaining the dies 11and l2 normally apart, distance-blocks 14 iiXed to said staple-pieces,

. and means for holding said staple-pieces in position upon thedie-carrier,

3. In apparatus such as hereinbefore re- `lcerreol to the combination oia die-carrier, staple-pieces the upper halves of Which are resilientliXed at their inner ends to said die-oarrier, dies upon the outer endsof said staplepieces, a serrated edge upon said die-carrier, and aspring-detent Which is adapted to enter the serrations for the purposeof retaining` the die-carrier in desired position.

4. In apparatus such as hereinbefore referred to, the combination of adie-carrier, a row of staple pieces the upper halves of Whioh areresilient iiXed at their inner ends to the die-carrier, means forcontrolling the dieearrier, movable means for holding the plate to beembossed, means in operative connection With and adapted to support saidmovable means and means for operating the dies.

5. In apparatus such as hereinbefore referred to, the combination of adie-carrier, a roW of staple-pieces the upper halves of which areresilient iiXed at their inner ends to the die-carrier, dies upon theouter ends ol' the staple-pieces, means for. controlling thedie-carrier7 a fixed plate opposite the die-oarn rier, sockets Withinthe plate, a bar adapted to slide Within said sockets, socketsadjustably secured to the bar, clips iixed to the lastmentioned socketsfor holding the plate to be embossed, 'means for operating the bar, andmeans for operating the dies.

In Witness whereof l have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twoWitnesses.

THOMAS HAWKINS. Witnesses HARRY T. P. GEE, C. GORDON WARREN.

